Apple thanks employees with extended paid Thanksgiving holiday

Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has announced an extended, full week of paid Thanksgiving time off for its corporate employees, a benefit that will extended to retail and international employees on alternative dates.

Cook's note to employees, published by French blog Mac Generation, notes that the company will shut down its corporate operations for three additional days to grant employees a full week with their families during the American Thanksgiving holiday.

The extended holiday is described as a "recognition of the hard work you've put in this year," particularly noting the release of iPad 2, Mac OS X Lion, iPhone 4S and the ten year anniversary of the iPod, which Cook noted was "still the world's most popular music player."

Re: Thanksgiving break

Team,

I consider it an honor to come to work every day alongside the most innovative and most dedicated people on earth. This is an extraordinary time to be at Apple, and it's all made possible by your incredible efforts.

We've had a record-setting year so far and we're heading into the holidays with the strongest product lineup in our history. Customers are absolutely in love with the iPad 2, and the amazing new iPhone 4S is off to the best start of any iPhone we've ever made. The Mac is soaring to new heights with OS X Lion, and on the eve of its 10th birthday, the iPod is still the world's most popular music player.

In recognition of the hard work you've put in this year, we're going to take some extra time off for Thanksgiving. We will shut down with pay on November 21, 22 and 23 so our teams can spend the entire week with their families and friends.

Of course, Retail and some other groups will need to work that week so we can continue to serve our customers. If you're in one of these groups, please check with your manager about taking time off at a later date. Our international teams will schedule their three-day shutdowns this quarter at a time that's best for them. Details will be available on AppleWeb.

My guess is that everyone at the corporate level has been working at least 50 hour weeks for the last year. probably more like 60.

My biggest concern about this is that all of my favourite tech sites will have little to report on for a week

Well more drunken engineers on the loose could be good for rumor sites. In any event this is Thanksgiving so there won't be much news anyways. Anything to be bumped will be before The start of the Holiday Shopping season.

If anything, don't be surprised if it publicly increases. By all indications Jobs was an extremely private man, I suspect any giving he has done would be private as well. There has been some public comments from people like Bono that Jobs was quite charitable.

Good one.
I am beginning to suspect that that will be the change we notice first under Tim. More heart. Don't be surprised if philanthropy increases significantly under Tim.

Apple did participate in project RED to combat AIDS. Apple also agreed to donate $1 for every participating song it sold rather than have the customer pay $1.99 per song for a limited time. Don't remember what charity.

Jobs also made donations to various charity groups that his wife is part of as well. He just didn't want the publicity.

If anything, don't be surprised if it publicly increases. By all indications Jobs was an extremely private man, I suspect any giving he has done would be private as well. There has been some public comments from people like Bono that Jobs was quite charitable.

Who knows the real truth, but you shouldn't assume things either.

Bono was referring to programs such as the Red program.

We know two things:

After being ousted from Apple, Steve Jobs decided to dedicate his time and money to philanthropy. After a short time, he took a 180 turn from that decision.

Recently, Bill Gates approached the richest people in America and asked them to dedicate a certain % of their wealth to charity. Jobs was amongst those who declined.

These events are public records, afaik.

They don't mean he was not a charitable man. They could mean that, true to legend, he was a laser-focused man. He did what he was most passionate about, and didn't do what he wasn't passionate about.

Recently, Bill Gates approached the richest people in America and asked them to dedicate a certain % of their wealth to charity. Jobs was amongst those who declined.

These events are public records, afaik.

Just because Steve Jobs didn't want to do things Bill Gate' way (with all of the attending publicity) doesn't mean that Jobs didn't give "to charity" in his own way.

I don't think I'll have to worry about it, but if Bill Gates asked me to publicly donate money to charity, I would turn him down too.

I actually give a fairly high percentage of my disposable income (and time) to organizations like our local homeless shelter and children's home, but I would be appalled if someone wanted to publicize it. I don't do things for publicity or so that people will think highly of me. I do them because they are the right thing to do and I have a passion for doing them. And when I give toward anything where they want to publish the names of the donors, I always insist upon anonymity, or I don't contribute. Avoiding any publicity keeps my motives in check. I also don't particularly care what others think about me. (I never had the impression that Steve Jobs cared much about what the public thought of him personally.)

As an apprentice of Jesus, according to his teaching, I give as secretly as possible so as not to get caught up in the trap of doing things for the approval of others. I don't think Jobs was a follower of Jesus (Buddhism seems to be his choice), but there is common wisdom there.

However, I don't pretend to know Jobs' motives, but I think people need to give him the benefit of the doubt and realize there are many ways people give of themselves and their resources that don't fit with the agendas of fundraisers and publicity hounds.

I beg to differ, this is very unique among large corporations. Exxon has made the highest profits in history last year and the year before, did they give their employees a pat on the back and some time off?

Unfortunately AppleCare phone reps don't get to benefit from this. And they comprise a large portion of Apple's employees. They'll get to take time off later, but almost certainly not a contiguous week.

If you are going to copy Apple (read the Asian rim mindset) don't try to sell your knock-offs in the US. You might be able to get way with it on Asia rim but not on our turf (the west). oh and btw we don't want you as our supplier either. Very big mistake. Samsung will be bankrupt in 5 years yes? and we are going after your HDTV market soon so be worried

Originally by Rickers - 2014 : Cook & will bury Apple. They can only ride Steve's ghost so long.

History reduce Apple Watch.... to a footnote in the annals of technology - Benjamin Frost Dec 2014

Just because Steve Jobs didn't want to do things Bill Gate' way (with all of the attending publicity) doesn't mean that Jobs didn't give "to charity" in his own way.

I don't think I'll have to worry about it, but if Bill Gates asked me to publicly donate money to charity, I would turn him down too.

I actually give a fairly high percentage of my disposable income (and time) to organizations like our local homeless shelter and children's home, but I would be appalled if someone wanted to publicize it. I don't do things for publicity or so that people will think highly of me. I do them because they are the right thing to do and I have a passion for doing them. And when I give toward anything where they want to publish the names of the donors, I always insist upon anonymity, or I don't contribute. Avoiding any publicity keeps my motives in check. I also don't particularly care what others think about me. (I never had the impression that Steve Jobs cared much about what the public thought of him personally.)

As an apprentice of Jesus, according to his teaching, I give as secretly as possible so as not to get caught up in the trap of doing things for the approval of others. I don't think Jobs was a follower of Jesus (Buddhism seems to be his choice), but there is common wisdom there.

However, I don't pretend to know Jobs' motives, but I think people need to give him the benefit of the doubt and realize there are many ways people give of themselves and their resources that don't fit with the agendas of fundraisers and publicity hounds.

Good for Apple . More companies need to take a page from their book. It takes a lot more than people realize to essentially pay an entire company to take a weekend off. I'm sure it's well deserved as well.